Technology

Ball Aerospace has announced the completion of a 90,000-square-foot expansion project at its integration facility in Boulder, Colo., finishing work that started in 2005.    The expansion will be used as a new satellite manufacturing center for contracts from NASA’s Joint Polar Satellite System, DigitalGlobe’s WorldView-3 remote-sensing satellite, the B612 Foundation’s Sentinel Mission, and several...

Two new satellites have emerged from Russia’s manufacturing sector. The nation of Angola’s first satellite – Angosat – is now being built by a Russian consortium led by RSC and should be launched in three years, Angolan Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Information Technology Alcides Safeca confirmed.    Safeca, who was speaking at a...

SES announced earlier this week that it will take part in the Artes-33 program (Electra) of the European Space Agency (ESA), which aims to develop a full electric propulsion small/medium sized satellite platform manufactured in Europe. SES Senior Vice President of Planning and Procurement Stewart Sanders talks to Satellite News about the significance of the...

SES has made an interesting move in the area of ‘all electric’ satellites. The company has announced that it will take part in the Artes-33 program (Electra) of the European Space Agency (ESA), which aims to develop a full-electric propulsion small/medium sized satellite platform manufactured in Europe. The project aims to develop, implement, launch and...

Engineers in Italy have designed a space-ready CubeSat manufactured using a 3D printer.

With more and more countries around the world looking to develop a space based capability, but wanting to do it on a budget, it has never been a better time to be a small satellite manufacturer. Here, we look at international developments in the small satellite market, and why countries all the way from Nigeria...

Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. has been awarded a development contract from the European Space Agency (ESA) to continue work on a geostationary small satellite platform, the company announced Jan. 31. Under the contract, valued at 2.3 million British pounds ($4.5 million), Surrey will extend its work on the Geostationary Minisatellite Platform. Surrey began work on...

Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. has been awarded a development contract from the European Space Agency (ESA) to continue work on a geostationary small satellite platform, the company announced Jan. 31. Under the contract, valued at 2.3 million British pounds ($4.5 million), Surrey will extend its work on the Geostationary Minisatellite Platform. Surrey began work on...

Has the small satellite wave crested? Despite many predictions of industry trending to smaller, lighter, cheaper, more standardized, off-the-shelf space segment components, both fixed satellite service (FSS) and mobile satellite service (MSS) operators continue to opt for large, at least partially custom-built, geostationary (GEO) space stations at roughly the same rates as in recent history....

The newly established Florida Space Institute–a partnership between the Spaceport Florida Authority (SFA), several local universities and the NASA-sponsored Florida Space Grant Consortium–announced this month it won a $500,000 grant from the Defense Department to design a small satellite to test laser communications technologies. Florida universities will build the "Photon" payload with assistance from SFA...